Morhaime talks change at Blizzard following WoW

by Alexander Sliwinski { Sep 6th 2007 at 1:55PM }

Austin's Game Developers Conference -- Austin being the MMO capital of the US -- kicked off one of its early events with a speech by Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime. He tells the story of just how unprepared they were for World of Warcraft's success saying, "We had to shift our mindset that we were not just a game publisher or developer. We were now a service company." The company has swelled from a a few hundred to 2,500 employees in the span of a few years. Much of that is to support the massive infrastructure necessary to keep the World of Warcraft running.

He says the early months of WoW they couldn't have been prepared for. They set Warcraft III as their sales expectation ceiling on WoW and prepared for that -- it sounded reasonable at the time. Of course WoW ended up being almost too popular and the game was close to unplayable half the time in its first six months. Morhaime says that's when they had to shift everything. He goes on to say that Blizzard's name standing for quality has helped them out immensely and he stressed for developers to always finish their games before release. The money a company makes in the short term won't fix a poisoned name in the long run.

Tags: blizzard, morhaime, worldofwarcraft, wow

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

mr nimblewick @ Sep 6th 2007 2:22PM

Now they just need a new franchise.

hvnlysoldr @ Sep 6th 2007 2:41PM

Yes, something involving ghosts.

Zsavior @ Sep 6th 2007 2:29PM

This guy has some nerve really, some freaking nerve. Really preaching finish your game first right, Blizz rides their name down the throats of any nay sayers.

The game when it first came out was buggy as hell but chalk that up to inexperience right? Then what was freaking Burning Crusades excuses? The class balance is still a joke yet they are balancing PVE around it. I had one quest that literally sat in my quest book forever because it was broken, shall I go into the frame rate problems a good number of WOW fans get if their screens are 20 inch and up?

But ride that name blizz ride it hard, right now they are able to get away with this crap because there is no real competition. People don't choose WOW cause it is the best they choose it because it is the only one.

I don't even want to get into the "Welfare epics" comment given, especially when a good ten percent of wow gamers see end game content, but the rest of the ninety percent of people pay subscription fees so that ten percent can play the whole game, but they aren't the ones on welfare oh no they raid so they are better. So the rest make up for not getting to see the whole plot by doing arena and solo questing, what does a blizz employee tell them? They don't earn what they get and their rewards are "Welfare epics", but I guess that is part of their pursuit of excellence some see the end well the rest pay for mediocrity be glad you get to even pay to play their game am I right?

Their community moderators actually insult the player base when they feel like it because, some classes believe they should be balanced and are tired only having one viable roll in the whole game while a class like lets see.... Warlocks can kill 3 people at once. Blizzard is everything I hate when a good gaming company gets fanboys galore and billions of dollars and blind PR. Literally I could go on for hours about this, but I won't because it doesn't change a thing, not till some company does it better and blizz is forced to reap what they sow. Till then all I can do is rip the same friends I told to start playing back out the game, in an attempt to save them some time and disappointment.

Ted @ Sep 6th 2007 2:47PM

I don't play WoW very much, but I hadn't noticed or experienced any of the things you mention. I haven't had any problems with balancing or bugs. Oh, and I have a 24" screen and have had no problems whatsoever... The game seems like it's built to a high standard of quality to me...

Kyrra @ Sep 6th 2007 2:53PM

Bitch all you want, but it's not going to change anything. Speak with your wallet, and stop paying for it. Get your friends to do the same.

There are many other MMOs out there, all having their own style to it. FFXI, EQ, EQ2, Guild Wars, Lineage, etc... Choose something else.

And let me guess, you used to be a hardcore raider. Then TBC came out and you didn't gear up as fast as arena players, and now you get owned in PvP? Blizzard did screw up and give out arena gear too easily, since it had such a huge impact on PvE as well. But you have to adapt, go with the flow. Things change over time.

Vidikron @ Sep 6th 2007 3:47PM

Meh... people always complain about balancing in games. I also think you underestimate how difficult it is to find every bug in game of this type. You nerf one class to make it more "balanced" and suddenly those people are complaining and another group is viewed as "too powerful". If the balancing bothers you that much then use the class you think is the most powerful. Do I think they should strive for a good balance? Of course, but they'll never be rid of the whiners.

And, please, frame rate issues for people with large monitors? That's more of a hardware issue on the user end. Larger monitors typically have a higher native/max resoution and thus require more horse power to run at those resolutions. The higher the res the lower your frame rate. That's true for any game.

And, come on, complaining about raiding vs non-raiding? If you want to see the whole game then play the whole game. It's as simple as that.

Rayonic @ Sep 6th 2007 5:11PM

@ Zsavior:

Waah waah bitch moan. One quest out of thousands was bugged for a while? ZOMG!
Warlocks can kill 3 people at once? Not if you Learn2Play.
The classes aren't perfectly balanced for 1v1, and the CMs hurt your feelings? Aw...

But what really pisses you off is that WoW is the best MMORPG out there. You'd join another one, but everywhere else is a step down.

Arenaceusmaga @ Sep 12th 2007 5:11PM

You're an angry little man aren't you? I can see it now... the rogue complaining his class isn't good enough anywhere so he must get it off his chest... YELLING IT ON THE MOUNTAIN that warlocks are overpowered and can easily kill 3 people at a time (btw, if you died to a warlock with 2 other people with you, you shuold be looking at your own intelligence not that of the developers) But I guess this is the place for crying if you have to cry.

Geed @ Sep 13th 2007 10:26AM

Some people’s comments are absolutely hilarious, their logic or lack of for the problems and successes of blizzards games is terrible. They couldn’t be more black and white about gaming. Either its perfect which it never can be or it’s a absolute disgusting failure. Zsavior ur a retard. Blizzard entertainment has helped push gaming further to what it is today and where its going. They were and are releasing patches for Diablo 2 years after the game was released. Blizzard is clearly a passionate company towards their games. I enjoy the time and effort they put in to the small thing like the stories of their games, things that most companies don’t care about. I disagree totally about people only playing wow cause theres nothing better out there. World of warcraft made mmo’s for the mainstream and I think u have forgotten how good and the new and exciting things that wow had when it first came out. Just think of it, is there ever a game that u have played so much for so long and still wanted more? Blizzard isn’t a perfect company nor do they claim to be, which is what makes art so interesting, cause its not perfect and not made by perfect people. ive been playing blizzards games since day one. they are my favorite gaming company. Long live blizzard!

Zsavior @ Sep 6th 2007 3:03PM

See if I just come on here and say it I will be attacked by Fanboys not saying you are a fanboy Ted, but I am taking precautions.

118 pages talking about patch and Framerate problems right here.

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=108244826&sid=1

Just in case you don't believe this man said this with all sincerity and truth. Jeff Kaplan lead dev for blizzard.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=qfb1LPo08i4&mode=related&search=

Like I said I can go on and on, all day long. I am not some angsty teen rebelling against the man, I developed a very strong dislike for this company from their employees and their antics.

The only reason more people don't hate them is because they are no where near as big of a force as nintendo, sony, or MS in gaming. If they were they would get the same sort of hate, but most of the gamers that make up wow player base don't frequent sites like the wow forum or joystiq, they just become jaded and leave. That is why wow is always doing revolving door antics because so many players leave they get that 9million play subscription from new players and multiple accounts, that last part I must admit is my theory but there it is.

AlanRickman @ Sep 6th 2007 3:12PM

Ok Ted, time to reply with "Well, I dont know about everybody else, but I just said I wasnt having any problems" and then skulk off, tail between skinny legs.

XD

Zsavior @ Sep 6th 2007 3:14PM

I hate to triple post so soon but Kyrra you are so far off about me that it isn't even funny. I rolled onto a regular server at the beginning of wow. Yeah this is before BWL I was there when Dire Maul was put in and people were arguing over DM and DM North or south had to be said if you were looking for group on LFG.

I was there was Strath was a 20 man instance and getting possessed when by instance bosses getting that crapped kicked out of me. I was there before BGs, never in a big raiding guild cause I liked the ideas of pugs, I have quite twice now, once before and now again, I do speak with my wallet now only to get my friends out.

I repeat raiding has never been my thing, neither was the arena, but when content patches and expansions only focus on end game content while the greater fan base of your game is casual I won't shut up and just hand over money, or let others who are uninformed about blizz focus. Blizz knows a lot of people won't speak up afraid of Fanboy attacks I am not one of those people.

MDV @ Sep 6th 2007 3:48PM

Oh no! Blizzard has definitely lost you as a fan, after they got your $50 for the game and I'm guessing around $150+ more for monthly fees out of you. They're probably at their desks right now, crying over your well-researched angry rants on this page, then wiping their tears with $100 bills from the other 8,999,999 people who are still playing and don't seem to mind that much.

Gary Combs @ Sep 6th 2007 3:49PM

Zsavior, find something better and move on. nobody forces you to play this game you hate so much. As far as Blizzard goes, I must say I'm a huge fan, ever since WC2. When WoW came out I didn't get it the first day, first week, or first month. I got it later on in January and thought the game was great. Yes, there were many many many problems and issues with the game and its my first MMO. Though my roomates have played mmos for a long time, I got to see first hand their own frustrations with Everquest or SW: Galaxies. No game is perfect but overall I enjoy wow, though I still play WCIII more than I do WoW. I'm not a fan of the end game content, the endless quest for better gear so you can WTFPWN people. Not into that but each to his own.